If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

The Collection Four and a Half years form Start

The set as it currently stands, there was a pause of acquisition for a little over two years since 2016 with some sold until now.

The Montblanc Meisterstück °14 is a recent acquisition. Felt like getting a fresh photo at the whole thing after a few found new homes with other users.

In general started out very large and cheap, mostly chinese, then there was a good mix of vintage/modern with some that I would consider a bit more expensive for myself, then started scaling it down either by trading off or selling, and now it's at a count of 15 pens (my goal was to get it down to 16 or less, then eventually maybe top 12 if I want to shrink from there).

Most of it ended up being in the Extra-Fine to Fine range far as nib tips go (I only have one Medium, a Factory Stub [1.1] and a Broad Cursive Italic), and ended up being a lot blacker than I anticipated, so I'm actually considering getting one again in a nice color (currently debating a Sailor Pro Gear Slim in either Purple Cosmos, Earth or Ocean since I want to try the music nib, if I don't end up getting it ground to a 0.6~0.7 cursive italic since I lack that in my setup).

A good portion of them are the result of trades. The Aurora Afrika LE is even the result of a trade where I mailed off a 12x12x12 box of Better Made Chips to Japan (not for that pen directly, the pen I got [Pelikan M805] eventually got traded for the Afrika after I had the M805's nib ground).

This Imgur Link has both these images, but also individual pictures of each of the pens currently in the collection. https://imgur.com/a/PxrmDCP

Re: The Collection Four and a Half years form Start

Being a photographer, I'm really picky on photos/graphics. I also feel like I would not be as obsessed with the pens were I not big into photography (one drug fuels another).

Kind of the same as how picky I am with video (which I *really* need to do more of) like when I tested out trying tilts and pans on my M640 (I need to work on the transition ramp downs) :

Also this video has most of the ones above (no audio, just showing off)

Originally Posted by stub

Of those which 5 or 6 do you reach for the most?

Guess you said 5 or 6 since that might be easier to say than your top 2 But I'm going to think about this from the perspective of 'reach the most' or likely 'use the most', and not so much on what I find to be most enjoyable or prized as it were (the Mae West definitely up there for desired, with a lovely nib, and I keep it inked, but not an EDC or something I'm going to reach for regularly).

Aurora Afrika LE

Probably among my favorite, very comfortable to hold, nice grip, I love the feedback on the nib (probably a result of whoever ground and tuned the Medium nib to an EF), easy to clean and unscrew the nib unit like a pelikan, easy to fill and it looks beautiful.

I would say probably the only reason I don't use it more often is because it's thickness does not fit well into my 3 pen case and I would definitely want to get a decent case to carry that around if I don't just use it in my pocket. I debated trying to find a larger nib for it to make it more useful to the rotation (or even seeing if I can get a nice Medium-to-broad-ish cursive italic on it).

Up until this one, I've had a poor opinion of most of the flashier Italian pens (I've had Visconti Homo sapien, Visconti Divina Desert Springs, Omas Europa, Omas 360, few other Omas, Delta Italiana, etc) as while they were all very pretty and nice materials, they either had poor quality control, or the nib just did not feel right or performed poorly for my expectation, then I got this Aurora in trade and loved not only how it felt in my hand but also how it performed on the nib (needed a tiny bit more wetness and it was perfect for me).

So if I do get another Italian that's modern, it'll most likely be an Aurora 88, or one of the nice Optimas in the Mare or Auroloide if I can ever get one inexpensive or in similar situation to how I obtained the Aurora (trade... actually a funny story behind that).

Pelikan M640 SE

Second to the Aurora in terms of larger pen comfort that writes very well for me. Wish there was a way to see the ink but haven't really bothered me yet. Got this one second hand as well, and the previous owner had the nib tuned by Mottishaw (nibs.com) and I find it to be a very comfortable nib that does a sharp cursive italic on the backside. It's a tad wet leaning so I really like using shading ink with it such as Waterman South Seas blue that it's currently inked with. It's also one of the easier pens for me to disassemble the piston on (only needed to once just to give it a good clean and grease, I don't recommend doing it too often it's plastic threaded piston).

Definitely one of my more striking pens that looks rather sleek yet elegant in a shirt pocket (especially when greys/silvers are the matching color scheme). It's slightly heavier and thicker than a M800, but shorter with a smaller nib, the bulge on the body shape is comfortable in my hands, it's also able to fit into the 3-pen case when the center pen is a narrow one (like the presently used Montblanc 14 in there now)

Lamy 2000

Ever had one of those pens that's not your favorite, but it's not hated either, kind of always there, always usable, no-fuss, nothing really to complain about, but nothing really to praise... it just... works. And that's my Lamy 2000 with a 14k EF nib, I keep it inked up with Noodler's X-Feather (used to use Eel Black, but doesn't work as well for crappy paper, and will feather, the X-Feather is darker). It's sort of my carry everywhere, but rarely actually use except when signing checks, or filling out documents with paper someone else hands me knowing that it will not feather, but also comfortable and sleek enough to just carry and doesn't draw too much attention.

My only real gripe on it is that when filling you have to take a tiny dab of wet paper towel just to wipe down the striation in the grip otherwise you get a tiny bit of ink in between the grooves even after wiping it with a dry cloth and that'll get on your finger tips (hehe which is not cool when you got something so permanent inside).

I don't see myself getting rid of it any time soon, but I do see myself always having it on hand even if it's not my go-to for all my note taking or other 'fun' stuff. This was a trade for a Vanishing Point that needed some work (which I tweaked and got working nicely), as such this Lamy 2000 too needed a bit of work on the nib, and I was able to get it very smooth with a cleaner edge which almost looks like a mild architect point (But may be the normal shape of it that showed up after I corrected flow issues).

I also have the ballpoint and mechanical pencil, but I've stopped using the ballpoint on a regular basis because I noticed there's a crack just above the clip going up to the clicker.

Pelikan 400NN

In terms of pens I can think of if I ever wanted to reduce down everything in my EF~F range to just one pen (with the exception of the Aurora in some aspect), it would likely be this pen. It feels solid in the hand, the cap is one of those older short-twist caps (Which fortunately still has the nib that clicks and locks it into place on the threads), and holds a hefty amount of ink for a little pen (1.97ml which is more than any of the modern Pelikans such as the M1000 which holds 1.47ml by comparison). Very classic look, and the nib is mainly my favorite part of it having a feedback that's slightly like a soft pencil, and is a semi-flex nib so there's a tiny bit of flare when writing a little quickly. Used to be more evident until I developed a lighter hand over the years. This along with the Pelikan 140 (Which I don't use as often but really like it's nib) were purchased from Pisco (of Penalusa.com) and he's always great to work with if he ends up having something I want to get my hands on especially since he understands what I like from a nib tuning aspect.

Prior to getting the 400NN, my favorite pen as an EDC that gave me the same desirable feel of a semi-flex EF nib was a 1940s Eversharp Skyline standard size with a 14K Semi-flex EF that was nice and springy and had a comfortable tapered body. The the 400NN came along giving me a more comfortable posted feel, with the nib being a tad nicer feeling with good flow, easier to see the ink level, and easier to clean.

This was the pen the 400NN replaced in the end (The cap on the skyline was originally gold filled, but replaced it for a green/red striated one that I prefered) :

Pilot Super 250

At one time this was my only Japanese pen after I got rid of all my Sailor, Platinums, and Pilot pens (not counting the Preppy which I only use for addressing envelopes with Kung Te-Cheng, or the Danitrio which is Japanese made, but American owned). And for me in a way it was a grail because I wanted to find myself a good vintage Japanese pen that was not a cartridge/converter pen, I was hoping to find something from before the 1960s and I was not expecting to come across this one.

What made this so nice for me was namely it's nib and the way it fills, the vintage Falcon nib is very springy and has a slightly toothy feel to it and I love using it for quicker writing. I did have a bit of a mishap where I had Iroshizuku Syo-ro originally ink in it, and even though it was flushed pretty good I put Waterman South Seas blue in it which a couple weeks later ended up chemically melting the sac within into a big blue blob and leaking everywhere in the pen. I have no clue where the previous owner got the latex sac to restore it with, but I know there was a bit of a batch of sacs out there that reacted negatively with some inks (or ink combinations if it saturated a previous ink), so it was out of commission for a while until I got a good sac, cleaned it up real good and replaced it.

One thing I've noticed is that even if I love a pen for how it writes/feels, if it's one of those pens with a very hefty ink collector/feed that takes forever to clean out for storage, I'm less likely to use it on a regular basis.

I received this pen in trade for a previous 'grail' of sort, for this Eversharp Doric in Kashmir color with a #3 Adjustable nib :

The problem was, ever since the barrel cracked in half on the doric (which Sean Nicolson repaired with visual perfection and even inserted a sleeve to help strength the barrel), I was paranoid to even touch the pen on a regular basis anymore and I'm not a "collector", I'm a "user" so I sought to trade it off for a pen that I would actually use regularly, and the Pilot Super with the nib combination seemed like it matched my personal view of a 'uncommon' pen, but also one that I could use without as much fear, and the nib was still close to the flex variation that I like with a light to medium hand but not quite needing a calligrapher's touch like with a full flex nib.

Montblanc 14

This is a recently acquired pen, so the verdict is still out on being in my "top 6" (The Wahl #2, Swan 205/60, Parker 75, and 1911L are kind of tied for the bottom spot if the MB14 isn't considered top 6).

Saw this 14 listed, and it wasn't something I looked at but I like my Montblanc 225, so thought the 14 with it's slightly thicker barrel and nib might be something I would desire (The 225 always took forever to flush, but recently found out the feed is actually quite easy to get out, it was just cemented in for a while now, so that viewpoint might change now).

It's one of the easier pens to disassemble (though that's not usually something I think of, or desire right away, but it's a nice surprise) with the exception of the piston and ink reservoir being press fit (the 225 the ink reservoir unscrews from the barrel too, so the piston can come out the front), the resevior's opening is nice and wide and feeds right to the back of the feed which as a while nib unit comes right out the back of the section. So the nature of disassembly is always nice to me on a vintage pen when it seems like there may be a few years of ink saved up in it. (if I do something like disassemble and deep clean it's usually with the intention of having to do it once and that's it for a while except to grease the piston).

My assumption was correct that I would enjoy the slight thickness over the Montblanc 225, length wise they appear to be about the same. The 14 also gave me a good flow, slightly on the wet side which is pleasant in the right condition, on the firmer side, but has a slight bounce feel to it, where as my 225 is as firm as a nail, but it's also the smoothest XXF I have, where as the 14 has some tooth/feedback to it in comparison but delivers a well shaded fine line and feels natural in my hands, easy to throw into my favorite pen case, looks nice in the shirt pocket. I like the way it feels in my hand, if I could get the Falcon nib on my Pilot Super 250 onto the Montblanc body I feel like I would be a bit in bliss lol.

Plus there's the little Montblanc splat on top (or 'bird shit' as some might say), which I'll say I don't care about... but if I'm being honest, I do take a minor amount of pleasure having it visible.

Originally Posted by stub

That leather case is really nicely finished.

Yea it definitely got a nice patina (and some ink dots on the outside) on it after 4 years, it's no longer that "Kermit-Hodensack-Grün" (Kermit's Ballsack Green) as the creator called the color.